Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty Campaign [Archives:2008/1200/Local News]
By: Ali Saeed
SANA'A, Oct. 19 ) In line with the Global Campaign Against Poverty (GCAP) celebration of International Day for Poverty Eradication celebrated between 17 and 19 October this year, the Yemeni Coalition for the Global Campaign Against Poverty (YCGCAP) held an awareness campaign on the television and radio, as well as organized a festival at Sabeen Park in Sana'a last Saturday.
The YCGCAP-organized event aimed at raising awareness about poverty in Yemen, and educating decision makers on the urgency of creating projects to eradicate poverty in Yemen.
Over 40 percent of the Yemeni population lives under the upper poverty line and the number of no less than 35 percent of children in Yemen are malnourished.
Globally, 50,000 people in poor countries die every day from poverty and over one billion children are severely deprived from primary education in the developing world.
The YCGCAP coordinated awareness symposiums on the radio, brochures distribution and interviews with decision makers in government, and stressed the need for partnership with the Yemeni government to draw effective strategies and national policies to alleviate poverty in the country.
The YCGCAP has reached an agreement with Parliament to increase the transparency of managing loans and grants, and to include partnership with civil society when approving national budgets and plans in Parliament.
The festival at Sabeen Park on Saturday was attended by Yemeni Minister of Trade and Commerce Yahya Al-Mutawakel as well as many civil society organizations and development organizations working in Yemen.
In his key note speech, Al-Mutawakel called on civil society organizations and the private sector to work with the government to implement its five-year Poverty Reduction Strategy.
During the event, representatives of various disadvantaged groups in Yemeni society presented a session in which they conveyed their concerns and explained how poverty increases their suffering.
Participants from the handicap qualifying center demonstrated their concerns through a sketch, while other marginalized poverty-stricken Yemenis recited moving poems to describe their living conditions. Representatives from the Cancer Association presented a report indicating the direct correlation between poverty and cancer.
The Yemeni Coalition for the Global Campaign Against Poverty
YCGCAP was established in May 2005 and today consists of 84 associations and organizations. At the latest event for International Day for Poverty Eradication, 187 different organization and association participated.
The coalition, which lobbies for the support of the private and public sectors in alleviating poverty in Yemen, sent Yemenis, on International Day for Poverty Eradication this year, an educational SMS via Yemen Mobile saying “Poverty is the enemy of humanity.””
“”The activities of the coalition come in response to increasing poverty in Yemen and around the world
